


It's Both a Blessing and a Curse (But Mostly an Inconvenience)

by detectivelion



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: A Halloween-turned-Christmas story, Characters being disgustingly affectionate, Curses, M/M, Misunderstandings, Multi, Polyamory, Sora as an evil spirit, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9047981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivelion/pseuds/detectivelion
Summary: "Riku jumped. Naminé had materialized beside him, one hand on his wrist to stop him. Her expression was rebuking. “It’s best if you leave him alone. That one is very powerful, it wouldn’t be good to take him from the ring.” As she spoke, she went to lift the dish from the desk, delicate, as though the ensure she didn’t disturb its contents."
Seven days, thirteen nights. That's how long it takes for things to Riku to realize that what Naminé told them might be more than a fable, and that maybe he really shouldn't have taken that rock.





	

The mansion that rested just outside of Twilight Town certainly fit the bill for “haunted.” Sharp towers and stained-glass windows that formed a half-dozen glowing eyes in the fading sunlight, watching as the visitors approached. A strong wind blew past, making the surrounding pines whisper, collectively a roar.

Riku shivered as the cold prickled over his skin.

He heard a sharp snort to the side, turning his head slightly to raise his eyebrows at Hayner. Their eyes met only briefly before the blonde looked away, his smirk twisting into a scowl. Satisfaction was settling in Riku’s stomach when looked back to the mansion.

Then a burst of pain as Kairi elbowed him. She leaned up on her tiptoes, hissing, “ _Behave_ ,” in his ear.

“Sorry,” he murmured back, insincere, rubbing his arm with one hand. She huffed, but seemed to let it go.

Little blessings.

Really, though, he couldn’t suppress an indignant frown. Hayner’s harassment was unprovoked, and had been going on the entire day. Naturally Kairi wouldn’t say a word until Riku retaliated. From the moment he got off the train, the boy had been jumping on every chance he could to leave some biting remark. Not very good ones, admittedly, the kind that Riku could dismiss just by blinking at him and then continuing with a drawled, “ _Anyway_ …” It was satisfying to watch him bristle, even if Pence and Olette — amiable enough — gave uncomfortable laughs and Kairi gave him a sharp jab in the arm.

He would probably have bruises by the end of the night.

Still, the expression on Kairi’s face was stony, and while he was far from apologetic, there was a ripple of guilt at upsetting her. These were her friends. She had been ecstatic over the phone, eager for her childhood friend to meet her new ones. And of course…

“So I’m finally going to meet your girlfriend?” Riku asked. Her face softened at that, an automatic smile and nod. His lips twitched up as well. “She must be something, to get you to look like that.”

The distance in her eyes refocused and sharpened. Kairi drew herself up, lips pursed in a challenge. “Look like what?”

“Like a lovesick puppy.” He couldn’t hide a grin. She scoffed, but she also looked away, head ducking down towards her shoulder: a clear sign of embarrassment, and therefore confirmation to Riku. “Come on, Kairi, I need to give her my approval. Quit stalling.”

“I am _not_ stalling,” she huffed, and just to prove the point she strode to the iron gates that barred the mansion from the rest of the woods. The hinges groaned, trying to resist as she leaned her weight against them to push them open.

Pence muttered from behind, “ _That’s_ spooky.” He got a nervous titter from Olette. The group shuffled past, casting uneasy glances as they stepped onto the property. When Kairi went to shut the gate, the wind ripped it from her, slamming it shut with a sharp clang and a rattle. Riku’s shoulders jumped.

_“Snk.”_

Hayner again, a hand lifted over his mouth but not concealing the way his smirk lifted his cheeks. Riku had to clench his jaw, eyes fixed determinedly ahead. _Ignore it._

Kairi laid a hand on his arm in gratitude, and that made it worthwhile.

His attention turned back to the mansion. They followed a stone path, the lawn overgrown and spilling over it. Pillars lined the way, sunbleached and crumbling. An unsettling sight. There had to be some history surrounding this mansion, he thought, for it to look so old, and to be built away from the rest of the town.

The doorbell was a low, moaning note. It reverberated behind the door, then silenced.

They waited. Five sets of eyes were settled expectantly on the doors, ears perked for the sound of footsteps or a lock turning.

None of it came, and after a minute, Kairi frowned. “Maybe she didn’t hear,” she suggested, and reached to ring again.

The knob turned, doors giving way with a _crack_. Olette yelped, leaping back, and might have fallen off the steps had Riku not spun and caught her arm in time. She pulled herself up, giving a breathless thanks.  
Hayner’s glare felt like the tip of a knife on his back.

“Oh! Are you okay?”

A soft voice sounded. They turned as one to look at a startled girl hovering just behind the doorway. Long blonde hair and bangs that dangled in her face; she looked pale, though that might have been the effect of the stark white dress she wore.

Kairi gave a delighted noise, jumping forward to clutch Riku and the new girl’s hands in each of her own. “Naminé, this is Riku!”

Naminé’s eyes fell onto him. Her gaze was scrutinizing, slate eyes scanning him up and down. His hands itched, wanting to cross his arms or shove his hair out of his face, and in his effort to resist he ended up standing stiff and tense in front of her. With the scan of her eyes came a feeling of being looked _through_ rather than _at_. His skin squirmed.

Then she broke out into a gentle smile and reached, pausing for a moment to allow him to pull away if he wanted, to set her fingers atop his hand. “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she said, “Kairi’s told me so much about you, it feels like we’ve already met.”

Instantly, he relaxed. Riku tried a smile, just the faintest upturn at the corner of his mouth. “I can’t say the same about you, unfortunately,” he said. There was the beginning of a look of disappointment, maybe hurt, setting into her face before he added, “Kairi’s so busy gushing about how crazy she is about you, she never got the chance to tell me anything else.”

Kairi squeaked. Naminé’s pale complexion turned rosy. “O-oh.” She turned her head, smiling. “Well, I’ve kept you all waiting here long enough. Come on in.” She stepped back, pushing the door wider to allow her guests to file through. Riku went last, having paused to slip out of his shoes and carry them with him.

Their steps clicked on the tile floor, squares of earthy tones. The front room was strangely narrow, though deep, with two staircases mirroring each other on the sides of the room. Naminé brought them through a doorway on the left, leading them to a carpeted room with a far more homey atmosphere. Old yet pristine sofas were arranged around a table. A fire blazed merrily behind opened glass doors, bathing cream-colored walls in its light.

“Go ahead and take a seat,” Naminé urged them, while she and Kairi bustled into the kitchen. Almost as though on cue, the sound of a whistling kettle pealed out.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette all piled onto a single couch, Riku seating himself on the one beside theirs. He perched on the edge of the cushion.

When Kairi and Naminé returned, it was with their arms full. A teapot, a set of cups, dry tea leaves, coasters, and an infuser were all arranged on the table before they were able to even dip the leaves in the pot.

“It’s pretty cozy in here,” Pence remarked. He craned his head around, looking at the portraits that lined the walls. They were paintings. A few Riku recognized as scenery around Twilight Town.

“You’ve never been here before?” He asked, frowning. According to Kairi, the three had known Naminé far longer than her, and became good friends with the girl in the years since Kairi arrived. Far more than long enough to have seen someone’s house, he was sure.

It was Naminé who answered. “I typically don’t invite people here at all,” she explained, sounding apologetic. “Really, I didn’t even let Kairi in until I was sure it was okay. Right before we started dating, actually. My parents always told me not to let anyone in here unless I explicitly trusted them, and though they’re gone now, I feel like I should still respect their wishes.” She looked at them, suddenly seeming aware of the curious eyes on her, then hurriedly lifted the lid on the pot, mumbling about checking if the tea was done.

Pence leaned forward. There was eager curiosity sprawled over his face as he asked, “Why didn’t they want anyone here? I mean, no offense, but isn’t that a little weird?” He looked around at his friends, Olette and Hayner nodding hesitantly along.

Naminé turned to Kairi, questioning, who shrugged and said, “It’s your choice to tell them.”

The blonde girl was quiet for a while, busying her hands by readjusting the cups on the table. She didn’t look up when she spoke.

“This mansion has been here for a long, long time. It was built back when Twilight Town was first founded, and kept intentionally distant from the rest of the town. My family was in charge of guarding certain… artifacts, I suppose is the best word. Ah, but first I should ask you something.” She finally looked up, hesitation set deep in her face. “Do you… believe in curses?”

“ _Yes_!” Pence leaned so far forward that Hayner had to put an arm out to keep him from falling. The boy’s eyes were shining.

Naminé gave an awkward smile in his direction and an acknowledging nod. “The artifacts my family looked after contained curses. Some would deliver misfortune open a holder, or had spirits tied to them… there are many varieties, but all are very dangerous. So we hold them here, in a mansion designed to contain their ill effects. It’s why we typically don’t allow visitors.”

They were silent. Hayner cleared his throat. “That’s, uh… I mean I’m not saying you’re _wrong_ ,” He told her, in a highly dubious tone of voice, “but I don’t really believe in this stuff.”

Pence rounded on him, exclaiming, “Are you _kidding_? This whole place has a spooky feeling, don’t you think that it means something?”

“I _think_ an ancient mansion in the woods is flat out spooky, give or take some ghosts.” Hayner raised his brows, but when he looked to Naminé, had the decency to look abashed. “No offense.”

“No, it’s alright.” Naminé waved him off. “If I were you, I’d be skeptical as well. But Pence isn’t wrong. The mansion gives off an unwelcoming atmosphere due to these items. Even animals tend to avoid the area, despite the woods being full of them. Unfortunately you can only house so much negative energy before it begins to permeate your home. It’s a little dreary being alone in here sometimes…” Her expression froze, and she was hasty to say, “Oh, but it’s much better now! Kairi is here most of the time. She has a very light energy, actually.” Her smile became fond. “It’s a natural ward.”

Kairi bumped her with a shoulder. “So I’m you’re lucky charm?”

“If you’re okay with that.” Naminé leaned against her, and burst into giggles when Kairi planted a loud kiss on her cheek. Olette gave an “ _Awwww_ ” and clasped her hands.

The conversation dwindled into talk about curses and the like over tea — mostly whether or not people believed in them. Pence launched into his own backstory; he claimed to have encountered a werewolf as a child, and to be on the hunt for the paranormal and occult ever since. Olette opted for a shrug, Kairi claimed she believed, and Hayner and Riku found the first thing they agreed upon all day. Which was to say, neither of them bought it.

It was kind of cheesy, actually. Maybe Naminé did believe it but… haunted mansion, out in the woods, supposedly cursed? It just seemed like too much. Not that Riku was going to say that to Kairi’s girlfriend.

“Oh, Naminé,” Olette broke in, midway to a sip of tea. “I’ve been meaning to ask, are these paintings yours?” She gestured to the frames mounted on the walls.

The girl nodded. “A few of them, yes.” She pointed them out. They did differ in style from their neighbors, Riku noticed. The other paintings were meticulous in their detail, but also were somehow darker. The colors were muted, the scenes always off-putting in some way. Those that Naminé claimed beheld vibrancy: an overlook of town from Sunset Hill, a glimmering river that ran through the woods. Her strokes were brisk, the colors disjointed from each other but somehow melding.

They _oooh’ed_ appropriately over her works, Naminé turning bright red under the praise. Kairi pitched in, “She has more upstairs! If you’re okay with them seeing?” She looked to Naminé.

To which the girl said, “That’s fine. As long as you all want to… ?”

They did, of course. And even if they didn’t, Kairi looked like she would personally flay whoever said no.

Naminé lead them up the stairs, and past several doors. The room she brought them to was clearly where she spent her time on her creations. It was a mess, for one thing. Colored pencils littered a desk, underneath which was a stack of what Riku assumed were previous drawings. Easels of half-finished paintings were pushed against the walls, some with jagged lines of paint slashed over them, like a mark of past frustration.

They perused the room as one might a gallery. Olette gushed over an unfinished painting, which Naminé regretfully told her was one she did not think she would complete. Riku himself looked at the walls, and the drawings taped over them. There were sketches of everything, but mostly people. A shopkeeper. A tall man in the sandlot, facing a smaller one, both blonde, both wielding blue bats. A boy with spiky hair, eyes closed in sleep. One of a trio, red, black, blonde, holding hands.

In the corner, he found a sketch, all color, of Kairi. The style was simplified, hasty lines and sharp angles, but captured the curve of her mouth and the way her eyes scrunched when she laughed. Riku wondered if she had seen it, and smiled as he slid it delicately back into place.

As he made his way around the walls, he inevitably came to the white desk left crooked in the corner. Along with the mess of pencils were two used erasers and a few crumpled balls of paper. There was a sheet laid out on the desk, blank except for a faded outline and eraser shavings.

There was also a dish of gemstones. Most he recognized from what Kairi taught him, knowledge passed on from Naminé. Amethyst, obsidian, and shards of clear quartz formed a ring. In the center was a stone he did not recognize. Polished, and a deep blue, nearly black. He tipped his head and went to reach for it.

“Please, don’t touch him.”

Riku jumped. Naminé had materialized beside him, one hand on his wrist to stop him. Her expression was rebuking. “It’s best if you leave him alone. That one is very powerful, it wouldn’t be good to take him from the ring.” As she spoke, she went to lift the dish from the desk, delicate, as though the ensure she didn’t disturb its contents. “I shouldn’t have had him out in the first place, I’m sorry. Moonlight is good for cleansing, but I was so occupied with preparing for everyone I forgot to take them back.”

She opened a cupboard, empty except for a velvet pouch, and set the dish inside.

Heat tingled in Riku’s cheeks. Naminé hadn’t been rude — though she was well within her rights to tell him off for touching her stuff — but he still got the sense of being a troublesome boy getting scolded.

Luckily, she was distracted a moment later. Olette had uncovered a painting that evidently she did _not_ want seen, as Naminé squeaked and rushed off to wrestle the sheet back over it. But as she left, Hayner approached, grinning. Riku’s eyes narrowed.

  
“So you _do_ believe it?” He drawled.

Riku crossed his arms, leaning away. “Believe what, exactly?”

“That bull about curses.”

He let his eyelids droop. “No.” Voice flat.

“You seemed pretty leery about touching that thing once Naminé gave you a story.” He cocked a brow. “Think you’re gonna get seven years of bad luck from a rock?”

“No.”

For once, Riku’s strategy of _don’t encourage the idiot_ didn’t seem to be paying off. Hayner only gave a laugh and went to open the cabinet. Riku’s eyes widened, taking an automatic step back as the blonde reached inside, and withdrew the stone. Hayner tumbled it over his fingers, letting it drop into his palm. “Oooh, I can feel the curse. Get away now, a spirit is taking over my body.”

A glower set into Riku’s expression. “Put it back,” he hissed, casting a glance at Naminé. The girl was still distracted.

“Scared?” Hayner bared his teeth.

He snapped, “What is your problem?”

“Gee, I _wonder_.”

They snarled at each other. Abruptly, Hayner seized Riku’s hand, dropping the stone into his palm. “Your curse now,” he said, then strode off, suddenly looking cheerful, to go look at the drawing Pence was fixated on.

The stone was cold in Riku’s hand. He gritted his teeth, turning to go put it back into the cabinet.

_“Riku?”_ Naminé’s stern voice called from across the room. “I told you to stay away from that, please!”

He cursed, grinding his teeth as Hayner snickered. Naminé watched him until he shuffled away from the cabinet, didn’t seem to notice his fingers were already curled around the gem. She turned away, and he shoved it into his pocket. He would have to explain it later, when Hayner wasn’t around.

They trooped back downstairs for dinner, phoning a restaurant to have food delivered. It was fun listening to Kairi trying to explain how to get to the mansion: “Yes, in the Tram Common. There’s a hole in the wall. Yes, go _through_ it. I know that goes into the woods, sir, that’s where we are. Yes, there’s an address. The house is in the woods, sir.”

The food wasn’t quite hot when it got there, and the delivery boy seemed nervous, but no one felt like complaining when they were finally able to fill their bellies.

Soon after, Riku had to bade them farewell. All but Hayner went to see him off, waving from the platform as his train pulled away from the station. Radiant Garden was several hours away, and he would still have to get up for class in the morning.

It wasn’t even until he was half asleep that he even remembered the little stone in his pocket. Riku only turned over and figured he could return it the next time he visited.

* * *

A week goes by before anything strange begins to happen.

Not knowing what to do with the stone, but also not really wanting to throw it out, Riku decided to stick it in a drawer and leave it there. He decided that Naminé’s story was a trick, a little fable spun to entertain the guests. Riku would deliver it with a nice try and a crooked smile. Wouldn’t be rude, because he found he did like Naminé, even if the bluff was an irritating one. Regardless, this _was_ Kairi’s girlfriend, and like with Hayner, he figured he would have to show some restraint.

The things he would do for that girl.

Riku attended his classes, went to work, made cheap food in the microwave because by saving money on this, he could afford something a little better at the end of the month. Still hasn’t figured out what to do with his life — he has yet to reach that epiphanic moment that he was always promised. Classmates were beginning to declare their majors, sending out transfer applications to the big universities, committing themselves. Riku was left staring at a list of titles he found little passion in.

The longer it went, the higher stress built. He was halfway through the year and by the end of it, his pre-requisites would be finished, and he would have to make a choice. But worry lead to headaches, and headaches made him want to just lay down and sleep the day away.

It was due to this strain that he only waved off the nightmare he had exactly seven days after visiting Naminé’s mansion.

What he remembered of it went something like this:

Darkness. That particular fear had never quite dissipated. It was a tangible thing, a miasma he could feel, like smoke, seeping beneath the layers of skin and clinging to his bones. When he took a breath, it rushed up his nose, down his throat, and flooded his lungs, thick and heavy in his chest, pushing against his ribs as he gagged on it. Like breathing water, it burned, up to his skull and behind his eyes, and though he couldn’t see before he suddenly _knows_ with omniscient certainty that it’s in front of his eyes, forming a layer that seeps beneath the lids and crawls back to his brain. Winds tight, infects the cells, it’s a _disease_ and it’s pushing into his pores, gathering thickly between flesh and muscle —

He woke, the memory vivid in his mind, arms jumping with goosebumps. He pressed a hand to his throat just to feel himself breathe.

People avoided him in class that day. When he got a glimpse in the mirror, Riku understood why. His complexion was ashen, shadows ringing his reddened eyes like bruises. Like he was deathly sick.

He felt sick. A migraine began to pound at his temples by his last class. He stuck around until the end, went home, and swallowed the medication he was beginning to run low on. It did nothing to alleviate the pressure. He resigned himself to a few hours of laying curled up on the floor, desperate for sleep to take him but the feeling of a knife grating his eye socket keeping him awake.

Sleep did come for him, blessedly, but only after his resolve crumbled and he downed a shot of NyQuil. It would make him feel like hell in the morning but that was nothing compared to the current torture.

The same dream from the night before plagued him, longer on the second night The touch of the shadows felt sharper. The press of it beneath his eyelids was harder.

Riku’s migraine was gone when he woke, lingering in punishing throbs when he turned his head too quickly, but he was sweaty and hot and his mouth somehow felt both dry and sticky at the same time.

He had no classes that day, and therefore no problems with just laying in bed and feeling miserable.

* * *

The dreams worsened with each passing night. By the fifth night they began keeping him up, leaving him staring at the ceiling and making constellations out of the texture of the plaster. When he did fall asleep, midnight was long past, and the nightmares left him feeling as though it may have been better to simply stay up all night.

They didn’t stop Riku from rolling out of bed, pulling on some wrinkled clothes, and dragging himself to the lecture halls. His notes looked atrocious, but they were _something_. Classes cost too much money for him to skip.

That was what he protested to Tidus. And to Selphie, who only retorted that hospital bills also cost too much and he needed to get sleep before he ended up paying one.

Day eleven rolled by. He spent that and the next day at home, only after Selphie promised _legible_ notes for him.

The thirteenth night, Riku’s dream changed. This time there were lights in the darkness. A pair of eyes, round and glowing yellow, that stared at him from the shadows.

His eyes flashed open. Skin cold, despite the covers pulled up to his shoulders. There was a pressure on his ribs that made it difficult to breathe.

A person was sitting on his chest.

Riku didn’t scream, but only because he couldn’t suck air into his lungs. Couldn’t even move, arms limp at his sides, entire body lax from sleep, a doll with no hands nor strings to hold it up. They stared at him, a silhouette of a boy, perfectly dark except for the glowing orbs it had in place of eyes.

It moved in stuttering motion, an arm that reached for his face. Something sharp — a nail — traced up his jaw and pressed in at the fleshy spot of his lower eyelid —

He must have passed out at that point, for he woke tangled in the sheets, the events a hazy memory permeated by terror.

Just another dream, then. Maybe he should call his insurance and see if therapy was covered.

* * *

_“That sounds like sleep paralysis,”_ was Kairi’s verdict. Sympathetically, _“And it sounds_ horrible _. Are you okay?”_

He exhaled, turning his head to look in the mirrors that made his closet doors. His face was pale, still drained from the dream. “I'm alright. Just a little sleep deprived.”

_“And how long has this been going on?”_

“Since the nightmares? A little over two weeks. Three nights since the, uh… sleep paralysis. I'm thinking I should see a doctor.” His gaze returned to his computer screen, pulling up an article on the ailment. What he read matched his symptoms — an inability to move, physical and visual hallucinations. Plenty of people talked about shadow figures, though none mentioned glowing eyes, or weeks of nightmares preceding the incidents. “But I need to go. Gotta get to class soon.”

_“Okay, Riku.”_ Her voice was soft with worry. _“Talk to you soon. And take care!”_

“You too.”

He dropped the phone onto his bed and fell back. There would be no harm in trying to catch up on sleep; class didn't start for two more hours.

Rest evaded him in the daytime, though. And it haunted him at night. With every appearance, the hallucination felt more and more solid. His skin began to feel raw where the figure touched him. Shadows jumped in the corners of his eyes.

Kairi called again two days later.

_“I told Naminé about your dreams,”_ she told him. _“She wants to talk to you.”_

And running on maybe two hours of sleep, Riku was not much in the mood for talking. “Later, I have class now,” he lied, and knew that Kairi knew he was lying. She knew he was free on Tuesdays. It didn't stop him from hanging up.

That night, the shadow’s hands slid from his face. Nails trailed down his throat, scraping the hollow at its base, and down to his chest. Then it dug its claws in and raked them down. Frigid lines seared a path to his belly. Riku couldn't scream.

He woke. Body drenched in sweat, his top clinging to his skin, long hair plastered to his face. It was disgusting, and the smell alone drove him to the bathroom. It was only after clambering out of the shower that he paused, seeing the red lines scored over his chest.

He dove for his phone, and the call was answered on the second ring. “Kairi?” He rasped.

_“Naminé, actually.”_ She answered.

Riku hung up only two minutes later, and was headed for the train station five minutes after that.

* * *

The address Naminé gave him lead him to a very normal looking neighborhood in Sunset Terrace. The houses were a bit aged — wooden frames and large windows in front that gave him a view into their living rooms — but in good condition. Most sported gardens, or at the least a well-kept lawn.

Riku approached the house that was the second to the end of the cul-de-sac. Two story, with a circular brick wall that enclosed a patch of sunflowers. Silver windchimes jangled on the porch. The sun was warm on his skin, a pleasant contrast to the chill of autumn that was creeping into Radiant Garden.

He found himself double checking the address, just in case. It all matched. Frowning, Riku tromped up to the door and pushed the bell.

A dog burst into a flurry of barking from behind the door. Footsteps, then the sound of a sharp voice, and the dog went quiet. The lock turned.

The door opened, and a man with vibrant red hair was revealed. One leg was stuck out to keep the dog, a large black Labrador, at bay. Green eyes raked over Riku’s form. Curious, calculating.

“Hellooo,” he drawled, leaning against the doorframe to keep the dog from nosing its way through. “Can I help you?”

‘ _Hopefully_ ,’ he thought. Glanced down at the note in his hand and said, “I'm looking for… Xion?” A guarded look entered the man’s eyes, and Riku hurried to add, “Naminé sent me.” He offered the note for good measure.

The redhead examined it for a moment before his expression relaxed. “Xion will be here in a few minutes,” he said. He said it like ‘She- _own_ ’ with a distinct lilt at the end. The man shoved the dog back a little to make room in the doorway. “Come on in.”

The moment the door was shut, the dog flounced up to Riku, snuffling excitedly at his clothes. It took one sniff of his left pocket, then snorted and turned around, trotting up to the man that had already made his way halfway through the front room. “Go ahead and make yourself at home,” the man told him, taking a seat on the couch. The dog jumped up beside him, splaying over his lap. “Watch TV, or there's food’s in the fridge — just don't touch the ice cream. My name’s Lea, just so you know. Memorize it.” With that, Lea picked a book up off the cushion, flipping through the pages until he found his place, and promptly ignored Riku’s presence.

“My name’s Riku,” he offered, and got an acknowledging grunt in response. Lea didn’t pose so much as a question as to what some stranger was doing in his home, which left Riku with little to do but sit up straight and focus on minute details around the room.

The sound of the door opening some ten minutes later was a relief. Lea gave an _‘Oooof’_ as the dog immediately sprang off the couch to greet the newcomer, a small woman with dark skin and black hair. She beamed and bent down to ruffle fur on the dog’s back, cooing a greeting.

Lea put his book aside, rising to his feet and taking long strides towards the woman. She looked up, had a moment to smile before Lea pressed a kiss to her lips.

Riku glanced away. Only a moment later, Lea said, “Visitor here for you.”

“Oh!” Footsteps approached. Riku looked back to meet her gaze. She was tiny, barely rising above Riku’s shoulder, and absolutely dwarfed by Lea’s lengthy frame. “I got a message from Naminé. You're Riku, right?” There was something deliberate in the way she said his name, her eyes scanning his face much in the same way Lea’s had.

“...That's right.” He tentatively offered a hand, which she shook with unexpected firmness. “You're Xion?”

A bobbing nod. “I am. It’s nice to meet you!” She was all smiles, apparently, a bright demeanor despite the softness of her voice. “So, I hear you got a curse stuck to you. May I see him?” When Riku only blinked, she clarified, “The gemstone.”

He jerked his head in a nod and fished it out of his pocket, holding it out on his palm. Despite having been carried around for several hours, the stone was still chilled.

Xion plucked it delicately from his hands, eyes fixed upon the stone as she rolled it in her palm. “This is a strong one,” she murmured. Looked up at Riku, a wry smile on her face. “You didn't make the best choice in taking this, you know. There's a reason Naminé kept him bound.”

Though her voice was quiet, tone delicate, the words had Riku flushing. Lea snickered somewhere behind him. Heat flared on the back of his neck.

“You keep saying _‘he.’_ ” Riku seized a chance to shift the attention away from him.

Perhaps growing bored, or determining this wasn't his realm, Lea gave them a little wave before walking off to the kitchen. Xion hummed in acknowledgement. “That would be the reason why this is a particularly bad stone. Most times, it is because someone charged them negatively, or intentionally placed a curse on one, but this one is a rare case.” She took Riku’s hand and set the gem back into it. “There's a spirit tied to this stone. And unfortunately, he is now tied to you as well.”

His stomach dropped. The veins in his hand pulsed where the stone rested. “Okay. How do I _un_ tie him, then?”

Xion gave him an apologetic smile. Riku groaned, letting his eyes squeeze shut. “Since I don't know the details of this curse, I can't give you a way to break it. The best I can offer you are some warding techniques, little things to keep him at bay. Naminé said he can touch you? Hurt you?” When he nodded at each inquiry, she pursed her lips. “I can give you something to prevent contact. The rest will be to combat his energy — to calm him and soothe destructive urges. But I have to admit to you right now, Riku, the only way for this to end is to free him from his curse. Barring that, you will simply have to learn to cope with him.”

Riku kept his eyes on the stone. It did not look particularly threatening. Dark in color, solid blue, smooth edges. It could be a pebble in a fishbowl. One with a nightmare spirit bound to it, according to Xion. The whole story was outrageous, and only the scratches itching on his chest kept him from dismissing the whole thing. Go home, throw the stone out the train window, and forget everything that was said about curses and spirits.

“I can't just get rid of the stone?”

Xion shook her head. “I wish it were that simple. Naminé had him bound to trap his energy in one spot. But now he's had time to spread throughout your home, and bind his energy with yours. You could throw the stone away, yes, but I don't believe it is a good idea.” She placed her hands over his, forcing his fingers to curl around the gem. “That is his vessel. You will need it for certain wards to work, and to have any hope of breaking it.”

Her small hands were warm. Or perhaps his were just cold, like the stone’s chill had sunk below his skin and deep into bone and sinew. Riku asked, “And how would I be able to break it?”

“Find out who he is.” Riku jumped, and spun around. Lea gave him a crooked grin. “If he can tell you who cursed him, or what kind of curse it is, then Xi can figure out something to do about it.”

Riku mulled over that, then furrowed his brow. “I don't think he's open to _chatting_ ,” he said, slowly, “unless clawing up my chest was a way of saying _hello_.”

Lea only shrugged. “You never know until you try, yeah? But that's only my advice, Riku Miyano, take it or leave it.”

“Hm.” He paused. “I never gave you my full name”

The question got only a smirk in response.

“Come on,” Xion sighed, laying her fingers on Riku’s arm to guide him away. “Let me show you what you need.”

He left with the stone in a little birchwood box, a booklet explaining wards, and a silver chain hooked around his wrist. “As long as you wear that, you will be unharmed,” she promised, and said goodbye with a smile and her best wishes.

* * *

The stone was locked safely in its box. He’d marched the perimeter of his room, feeling like an idiot, dragging a finger dipped in water over the walls. It was the simplest of the warding techniques he’d found, as well as one that wouldn’t set off the smoke alarms. The silver was wrapped around his arm.

Riku still couldn’t sleep.

The shadows on the walls were long. Bars of light passed through the shutters as cars drove by. He could close them, but couldn’t will his body to move. Maybe it was exhaustion, or the fear that his haunter was lurking somewhere in the darkness.

An alarm clock on his desk blinked red numbers that he refused to read. Watching the clock made time pass slower. Red lights made sleep glide further away.

Count sheep, count the seconds.

One, two, three,

His chest still itched. Riku discarded a top for the night, knowing the scabs would catch on the material. Would he wake up with more marks?

Six, seven, eight,

Naminé had called. Seven days for the nightmares to start. Thirteen days, and the shadow appeared in waking. She said

Eighteen, nineteen, twenty,

She said she wasn’t sure but. Twenty days was her estimate, before it could kill him.

Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four,

Tonight was the twentieth night.

Riku’s eyes grew heavy. He forgot to count. A moment later, they were wide open again.

The shadow loomed over him. Knees planted on either side of his torso, arching down so their noses nearly touched. Its eyes were wide, painful to stare into the glow. One hand was poised, nails long, razor-sharp, at his throat.

But it didn't touch him. The eyes narrowed.

Riku blinked and watched it dissipate into tendrils of darkness, curling like smoke.

Air rushed into his lungs. His brow prickled with sweat, bangs plastered to the skin. He fell asleep again, or maybe he passed out. He woke up with relief still foggy in his brain.

The next night was the same. It hovered over him, so close he could feel the air freezing between them, but never made contact. Fingers reached for him, but always halted before it could touch. No contact, just a crawling sensation where his body knew somewhere deep in his cells that this creature was _wrong_.

When it appeared, three nights after he received Xion’s protection, it looked irate. He discovered it had a mouth that night. It's jaw stretched open, the inside revealed pure white, marred by strands of shadow that clung over the hole in its face.

Riku’s heart thudded. It was crouched over him, bestial, a hiss emitting from the white gash of its mouth.

But he took a breath. “You can't do anything, can you?” He whispered. Its mouth re-sealed, the narrowed eyes widening, head cocking. Riku’s mouth twitched upwards. “You can't touch me.”

Its glare was full of hate.

* * *

For the first time since he picked up that damn stone, Riku’s sleep went undisturbed.

* * *

“You okay?”

Riku didn't know the student sitting beside him. She was a familiar face — a downturned nose, brown eyes, short hair and lips pursed with concern — but her name escaped him. “You look kind of pale,” she added.

Riku managed to drag his eyes away to her. Gave a strained, polite smile. “Fine, thanks,” he bit out. She frowned, put off by his tone, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

The shadow seemed to laugh.

It seated itself on the desk in front of his, legs crossed, back slouched. Directly in front of Riku’s view. When he leaned, it leaned with him.

Riku couldn't even bring himself to be angry, too caught up in incredulity. Up until now, he had felt safe with his assumption that the shadow only appeared at nighttime. Yet there it was. Smug, if the upturn of its eyes was any indication.

In the light, it was easier to see the shape of the creature. It was oddly human. Almost the perfect silhouette of a young man, if the sharp ends to its fingers and the smoky tendrils shrouding it were ignored. Pitch black hair rose and fell in gravity-defying spikes that make Riku think back to Lea’s thick mane. If there was a way to peel away the darkness surrounding it, the shadow would look perfectly at home in a college class.

And on the subject of looks…

Riku cast another glance around the class. Not a single person paid any mind to the shadow apparition sitting in the middle of the room.

So, chances were that he was the only one who could see it. That or college students really were that apathetic.

He tilted himself further left. Any more and he'd be parallel to the floor. Riku snagged a glimpse of the numbers on the board before the shadow shifted into his line of vision. Its form quivered — laughter.

Riku had to restrain himself from throwing his textbook.

_Fuck you_ , he mouthed, slow and precise.

Its shoulders bounced with mirth.

* * *

Upon discovering it could no longer maim Riku, the shadow seemed to have moved onto a new strategy of making Riku’s life a living hell. Perhaps its goal was coerced suicide.

Somehow he took that knowledge, that a being in a realm of existence beyond his comprehension very desperately wanted him dead, and turned it into a challenge.

He learned very quickly how to listen to a professor rather than watch. Started asking for others notes “to compare”, when in truth he was snapping pictures of them with his phone.

Riku put his phone on record to listen to again later, only for it to be nothing but angry static when he played it back. Static was also what he got in his headphones, on the television. Blaring, obnoxious. It wouldn’t shut off when he hit the power, not until he yanked the plug. The lights flicked on and off when he was trying to sleep and work. He put a frozen burrito in the microwave and forgot about it when its alarm never went off.

The shadow went from _terrifying_ to _infuriating_ in the span of a single day.

Though it did not lose its status of “nightmare creature.” For the first time since he was a teenager with the confidence he could run the world, Riku found himself seeking out the company of others. Friends, classmates, strangers. Anything for a distraction.

When he was alone, the shadow tended to just… Watch. It hovered in the corner of his vision, where he had to strain his eyes to see it. Everywhere he went, he felt its gaze prickling on the back of his neck. A cool breeze felt like breath. The itch of his clothes became a phantom touch.

Everywhere he went, the shadow followed, like it had torn Riku’s from his feet and attached itself instead. Even leaving its gemstone, its vessel, at home did not deter the creature. That only flared its ire when Riku attempted it, and it scathingly spent the day whispering garbled noise in his ears, drowning out those around him.

Something had to be done.

_Get to know him_ had been Lea’s advice.

“Is there a way to punch a spirit?” Riku growled over the phone. In the mirror, his reflection’s eyes burned gold and smirked. He watched with faint disgust as those eyes shriveled and rotted, maggots and centipedes tumbling from the sockets and down a sunken face.

_“He is only selectively tangible, so I'm afraid not,”_ was Naminé’s reply.

Xion proved to be far more useful. Under her instruction, he dubiously took a jar of salt and ringed his bed with its contents. The shadow was left hovering at the edge of the line, eyes pinched, while Riku typed an essay out in peace.

A morning’s shower ended when he heard the toilet’s _whhhshhhhh_ and had to scramble to crank the water off. His back got assaulted with a burning spray before he could reach it, and he cussed the gleeful shadow out with suds still in his hair.

The toilet earned a salt ring after that.

And so the days went, the warmth slipping away with each night, a little less returning each day. Leaves turned red, orange, yellow, then browned and glided away. Radiant Garden’s autumn was a chilly affair. Fog rolled in earlier each morning and did not dissipate until late, often returning in the evening. The first season’s rain was expected within the week.

The windows were misted one night, and the shadow seized the opportunity. In finger-scrawled letters, Riku found:

**_uoy ɘmuƨnoɔ lliw ƨƨɘnʞɿɒᗡ_ **

He blinked at it. It wasn't until he looked behind him and saw the message in the mirror that his expression flattened out, registering the kind of words he might have spouted when he was fourteen and convinced he was destined for greater things.

Riku wiped the letters away. And then, just to be petty, he dug a flashlight out of the closet and set it on the windowsill. The shadow’s yellow eyes manifested in the glass, glowering.

It spent the day after playing with the mist, as Riku sat through class. Riku listened to the drizzling rain and the patter of its nails on the glass. It dragged its fingers over the condensation, droplets coursing down in lines.

**_Riku_** it wrote. Big letters, squeezed close together the tail of the u curling. When he glanced over at it, the shadow set its nails on the glass and raked them through his name.

Riku turned his head away.

_Tap, tap, tap_ went the creature and its nails.

He went home. Room neat, bed made, salt-lines recently redrawn. The flashlight was on the floor.

Riku set it back up on the sill and, on an impulse, took his finger to the fogged-up window.

_Would you quit that?_

The shadow flickered in the reflection. Riku felt it draw near, almost against his back. A black hand reached around him to scrawl, ** _Make me._**

Riku pulled out his jar of salt. Almost out. Was it worth it?

The round realization in the shadow’s face said yes. It turned grumpy as he shook out the last of the crystals in a ring around the flashlight.

“How's that?” He smirked.

The moment after he heard a few shouts as the power went out in not just his room, but the next ten flanking his as well.

At this rate, he would have to stop bulk-stocking the fridge.

* * *

The shadow made a strange train companion. Never before had it appeared with him on his visits to Twilight Town, but today it manifested in the empty seat beside him, head craned out the window.

For once it wasn't channeling its existence into ruining Riku’s. It just watched the hills fly past, a companion instead of a terror, looking oddly suited with its elbow propped on the window and chin in its hand. He could almost color it in, imagine there was a boy sitting beside him rather than the spirit haunting him.

While exiting the train, Riku’s eyes were drawn by a flare of red in his vision. He followed it, finding the obvious visage of Lea strolling across the station floor. The man ignored all the trains and all the passengers, focus entirely centered on a short blonde figure strolling beside him. Without noticing Riku, the two passed right by and walked out the doors.

He was still debating whether or not to call out to Lea — the man had proved himself to be decent conversation when he wasn't being deliberately vague, or frustrating — as he followed them outside. There, he immediately decided that no, he absolutely would not say a word to Lea.

Because Lea had paused, or perhaps been delayed, in the middle of the station plaza. He was bent low, meeting the hands that cupped his face and held him in a long, slow kiss. They parted, thankfully, but their faces remained close. The blonde boy took Lea’s hand, keeping it clasped between their sides as they ambled down the hill together.

Sweat broke out over the back of Riku’s neck. Apparently Roxas had become a homewrecker since they last met.

* * *

The shadow had vanished somewhere between the scene on the station plaza and Riku boarding the train to Sunset Terrace. The seats felt empty without it sitting there.

Xion was occupied when he arrived. The dog was kept outside, likely due to the fact that another woman was sitting on the couch, looking startled as Riku entered.

“Sorry, I’ll be just a moment,” Xion told him, then made her way back over to her guest. The way she moved was light, somehow. There was a sway in her gait and a delicacy to her steps that made it feel as though she was barely walking at all, but rather drifting across the floor.

She lifted a charm from the table, a pendulum of amethyst on a silver chain, and offered it to the woman. “Amethyst is excellent for spiritual protection, neutralizing attacks and ill-will and purifying the energy. Its properties are actually quite extensive, but I believe it is best suited for your needs. Wear it, or keep it in your home, and it will extend its protection to you.” Xion smiled as she held it out, the woman taking it with a grateful thanks.

Money exchanged hands as well as the crystal, Xion thanking her before sending her away with best wishes.

Riku raised his eyebrows. “So you sell your… charms?” He asked, tone disapproving.

“Crystals, charms, candles, that sort of thing.” Xion looked at him, smile faded but not completely gone. “A surprising number of people seek aid through these means today. That woman, for instance, said she felt a malicious presence in her home, and so she sought me out. I do run a shop in town, but she seemed rather frantic when she arrived…” Xion trailed off, looking thoughtful.

Riku let her ponder for a moment. Then several more, the woman’s eyes still distant. He cleared his throat and asked, “So? Will that help?”

Xion startled out of her daze, eyes sharpening. “Ah, sorry! What did you say?”

He repeated his question.

The answer was a thoughtful hum and a, “Yes, I believe so. Like I said, amethyst has a broad range of properties. But you’re not here to listen to me chatter about my work are you?” When Riku shook his head, she sighed. “Darn. Well, what do you need?”

He produced the empty jar. Xion looked amused, if exasperated, when he explained why he had run out so fast. “I can’t give you any more for free, Riku,” she warned. “This stuff is hard to get! It’s not like I can just pick up table salt at the grocery store.”

She gave him half a jar, “Discounted, because you’re Naminé’s friend.”

“Not sure if I’d go that far. I’m her girlfriend’s best friend.”

“Do you not want a discount?”

“Ah… no, I’ll take it.”

The door opened just as they finished the transaction, a price that Riku couldn’t help but resent for salt, and Lea and Roxas walked in.

Riku felt his heart seize up. Xion, oblivious, went to throw her arms around both of them. Weighed down by bags, they were unable to reciprocate, but smiled and leaned into it all the same.

“How’s he doing?” She asked, once she pulled back.

“Same as ever,” Lea replied. One hand was settled on Roxas’ shoulder, perfectly friendly to an outsider’s view.

“I said hello for you,” Roxas told her, voice more subdued. He brightened somewhat as he added, “Oh, but there was some news. One of the nurses said he’s been moving. Fingers and arms, mostly, but apparently his mouth, too.”

Xion’s eyes shone. “Roxas, that’s great! This could be a wonderful sign.”

“I don’t want to get too excited,” he began, but he was smiling. Then he looked away from her, and his eyes landed on Riku.

Having been arrogant, closed-off, tending towards the dramatic, and endlessly competitive in his youth, Riku was well-versed in the art of meeting a hateful gaze. But nothing compared to the absolute fury that twisted Roxas’ expression when he caught sight of him.

_“What are you doing here?”_

Lea’s gaze darted to him, taking in Riku’s presence for the first time. He lurched forward, winding his arms around Roxas and hauling him backwards before the blonde could spring. “Whoa! Hey, Rox, get ahold of yourself!”

Xion’s eyes were wide. She angled herself in front of Riku, like a protective barrier.

_That_ was a mistake.

“Why the _hell_ is he here?” Roxas wrenched uselessly at Lea’s hold. “You _know_ who he is!”

“Yeah, we do,” Lea grunted. His height advantage wasn’t doing much for him with the elbow lodged in his stomach. “We don’t know _why_ you seem to hate him so much, but that’s not the point. Naminé sent him.”

Maybe realizing he was getting nowhere, Roxas gave up his struggles. His snarl remained. “Then why didn’t someone _tell_ me?” He ground out.

Both Lea and Xion were quiet.

Riku swallowed hard, lifted his hands in a placating way. “Roxas,” he started, the name familiar once again, “Listen, you don’t—”

Whatever calm they’d garnered crumbled away. _“Shut up!”_ Roxas was livid. “Don’t even _try_ to defend yourself. You know _exactly_ what you did, and nothing you say is gonna make up for that!”

“What did he do?” Lea’s expression turned wary, then accusing at he looked to Riku again. His heart sank.

Riku started, “You never let me,” and stopped as Roxas broke in again.

“Why are you even trying to apologize?” He growled. “It’s not like you _care_. You didn’t care enough not to _cheat_ with that little—”

“—Oh, like you’re one to talk.” Riku spat. Couldn’t help himself. His blood was pounding, fists wound up.

Three sets of eyes were fixed on him. Roxas’ glare faded, bewilderment taking it’s place. “What is that even supposed to mean?”

Riku’s eyes flicked from him to Lea. The man’s green eyes widened, realization. “Oh fuck,” he breathed. “The train station.”

And then, Lea started laughing.

Laughing _hard_. His grip on Roxas tightened, bending over the boy in his mirth. Riku stared at him for a good long moment before snapping, “You shouldn't laugh, asshole!”

That only made him dissolve into giggles. Xion glanced between them, confusion etched on her face. “What? What's going on?”

And Roxas’ mouth thinned, eyes falling shut. “He must have… seen us at the train station. We were...”

“Oh!” Xion blinked, then broke into giggles that she tried to mask behind her hand. “Oh, y-yeah I can see how he’d…” She took a breath, holding it for a moment to compose herself. Lea had degenerated from crippling laughter to merely shaking against Roxas, one hand over his face. Looking to Riku, Xion said, “Don’t worry, Lea’s not cheating.”

Riku blinked.

“We’re dating. All three of us?”

“... Oh.”

Finally calming down, Lea unwound himself from Roxas to flash Riku a lazy smile. “Now, I’m getting the feeling you have some things to explain to Rox? Ah, ah, buddy, no talking just yet. You can kick his ass if you want at the end, and if circumstances fit, I’ll join in.” He gave Roxas a placating kiss on the temple, which at least brought him from ‘angry dog’ levels to more of a ‘disgruntled cat’.

The story went like this:

Riku and Roxas dated for a short time, to nobody’s surprise. They met when Riku moved to Radiant Garden from the islands which he was born on, hit it off, and became an item. Typical story, nothing too strange. And then Roxas caught Riku kissing a girl.

Having seen this, he broke things off on the spot, left Riku with a black eye, and cut off all contact. Number blocked, door locked, and then one day he simply vanished.

It all seemed pretty simple like that. Riku cheated. Except,

“The girl was my best friend,” Riku explained, voice edged with aggravation. “Kairi. She’s only into girls, by the way.”

Uncertainty flickered in Roxas’ glare. “You were holding hands,” he pressed. “ _You kissed her.”_

“She’s family,” Riku defended. “We grew up together. She’s like a sister to me, and I can call her right now if you want me to.” He added, in a grumble, “She cried because she thought it was her fault you broke up with me.”

Silence stretched out in the air between them. Roxas’ anger faded, shifting into confusion, realization, then shame. “I thought…”

Riku sighed. “It looked bad,” he admitted. “I understand why you freaked out. And I would have explained it to you — whenever you let me — but you left after that.”

They steadily moved to the couches, Lea and Xion flanking Roxas, the three sitting across from Riku. Looking at them, he realized their relationship was blatant. Their stances were comfortable, familiar with each other. Xion leaned into Roxas who leaned into Lea, the taller man readily taking their weight.

“My friend was hospitalized.” Roxas’ voice was low. “I moved out here to… I dunno, keep an eye on him?”

“He’s kind of impulsive,” Lea drawled, and got a light hit for his trouble.

Riku felt the tension lift. Roxas smiled, bashful now. “Uh, sorry about… freaking out.”

“It’s understandable.”

They sat in a comfortable silence. Then Xion leaped up, going “Oh, _shit_ , the ice cream!” And whisking away a box of sea-salt bars to the kitchen. Her boyfriends got up to help gather the groceries, leaving Riku alone on the couch, eyes distant as he tried to sort his thoughts out, tracing a finger over the armrest as though it could guide them into something coherent.

His vision flickered. Riku’s eyes shifted to the side. The shadow hovered in the kitchen entrance, watching the three inside. He could hear their voices, quiet laughs, the rustling of bags as they put away the groceries. Its eyes were dim.

“You know them?” Riku murmured to it.

Its head snapped around, yellow eyes going round. Then it dissipated, just before Roxas ambled back out into the living room, a tentative invite to dinner on his lips.

* * *

The jar of salt was placed on the bathroom counter, right next to Riku’s face wash and a tube of toothpaste. A good portion went to refreshing the lines around his bed, when he realized it had been far too long since he swept the floor and walking barefooted was starting to feel gross.

Thankfully, the shadow wasn’t giving him much reason to use the rest of its contents as of late. It stopped rattling his windows and blaring static through his headphones. He went to bed one night, pondering on the oddity that was the lack of a shadow hovering over his bed.

Perhaps he was getting used to its presence.

He had adapted, which naturally meant the shadow was going to switch things up again.

His grades sprang back. His sleeping schedule was almost healthy. He dared to buy a full gallon of milk instead of a quarter, as it had been several days since the power in his fridge inexplicably shut off. When the shadow did grace him with its presence, it was only in a half-hearted attempt to unnerve him by hovering at the foot of his bed or breathing down his neck. Sometimes he would catch it standing by the window, staring outside, somehow looking darker in the sunshine. Like a black hole, it consumed the light, not a single ray touching its form.

It looked lethargic.

Riku’s demon was starting to feel less like a monster and more like a depressed mouse: elusive and rarely-seen, but when it was, it just looked sad.

On a whim, he asked if it was feeling alright.

It cocked its head from where it was leaning over him. The dull slant to its eyes rose into a question.

“You’ve been off your game lately,” he tried to explain. “This,” Riku waved a hand, “isn’t anything. Standing next to me and making weird noises while I sleep stopped freaking me out a while ago.” He grimaced. That wouldn’t spell good things if he ever got robbed.

The shadow looked… Considering. Like it was mulling over his words. It gave a nod, upturned its eyes in its version of a grin. He got a thumbs up flashed in his direction before the shadow flitted into the corner of his eye, and then beyond his view.

When the floorboards outside his door started creaking ominously, Riku sighed and turned over, the sound becoming the background to his dreams.

* * *

**_Don’t drink the milk._ **

The message was written in the foggy window. He found its cause when he went to investigate, recoiling from the foul smell that wafted from the carton. That went promptly down the sink.

He wrote a Thanks on the mirror, bemused, before making a note to check what groceries he would need for the day.

A week later it was **_Check your e-mail._** Class canceled.

**_Call Kairi_** worried him, but nothing was wrong, and it was just good to hear from her again.

He mentioned, offhandedly, the shift in his shadow’s behavior. The phone was handed off to Naminé. She told him to come visit.

* * *

The shadow _loved_ Kairi. Riku wasn't sure if that was endearing or worrying, but tentatively settled on the former. It flitted around her in circles, eyes bunched happily.

Neither she nor Naminé could see it, but the blonde girl caught on when she watched Riku’s darting gaze. “Oh, he's in here, isn't he?” She asked. A hint of concern was in her voice.

“By Kairi, yeah.” Riku’s words made the redhead start, and turn her head. Without knowing, she looked right past the shadow. “To your left,” he offered. “Yeah, there.”

Her eyes were wide. But slowly, she shook her head. “I can't see anything,” she sighed. “Sorry,” Kairi apologized in its direction.

The shadow slumped, evidently disappointed, and drifted back over to Riku. “He's over here, now.”

And while it was somewhat amusing to watch Kairi try to look at an invisible creature, he was here for a reason. Naminé gave a hesitant, “Umm,” until their attention was on her. “Riku, could you give me his stone for a moment?”

His first thought was no, and he set his hand protectively over the pocket he held it in. A beat later, Riku withdrew it, opening the wooden box Xion gave him. “What are you going to do with it?” Even he winced at the edge in his own voice.

Naminé's eyebrows rose, the girl frowned. “I’m only checking its energy.”

Abashed, Riku murmured an apology and fished the stone out to hand it to her. She cupped her hands around it, staring intently at her own fingers.

Naminé broke out into a smile. “Oh,” she breathed. “You dispelled it.”

It couldn't be a bad thing. She looked delighted, like this was the best news she’d heard in her life. But seeing his confusion, she generously explained.

“When this stone came into my possession, it was clouded by darkness. Whoever cursed him was very powerful, and wanted very much to harm him. They bound his soul to this stone, and corrupted it. Took what was once a beautiful heart and made it into something that could only feel hatred…” Her voice grew soft. But she looked up from the gem resting in her palm and beamed. “That darkness is gone. He is still cursed, I’m afraid, and I do not believe he could control his actions if you were to remove your charm.” She nodded to the silver links on Riku’s wrist. “But you’ve freed his heart. If nothing else, he can _feel_ again, thanks to you.”

The shadow hovered over his shoulder, eyes intent upon her. Riku looked up at it, hoping to catch its gaze. It's focus didn't falter.

Riku looked back to her. “How?” Was all he could ask.

Naminé tumbled the stone between her fingers, still smiling, and reached to return it to Riku. “I may have approached this incorrectly,” she began. “When Roxas first brought the stone to me, it was so consumed with darkness I was terrified to leave him unsealed. But perhaps he needed a little freedom, and a little compassion, to remember his light.”

Roxas. Riku made a note. Then lifted his wrist, twisting the silver chain linked around it. “But I still can’t take this off?”

It was the shadow that responded first, a rounding of the eyes and frantically shaking its head. Naminé answered with the same terrified haste, “No, no, absolutely not.” She pulled his fingers away from it, like she feared he would try to remove it then and there. “He may not be malevolent, but a curse is still a curse. Without protection, he will be forced to act upon it. I believe that was the original intention of the one who did this to him, to make him hurt someone he loved.”

And that was that.

But not quite.

“So, it… _he_ remembers who he was. Before the curse.”

Naminé’s eyes lowered. “Yes, that's true. He can think and feel just as we can. He’s about our age, actually.”

And that was something that left him stunned, all the way back to the train station, watching the shadow padding beside him. Its feet never really touched the ground, but it pretended to walk.

On the train ride home, Riku fogged up the window with a breath and asked him what his name was.

The shadow’s eyes crinkled up in a smile and he wrote **_Sora_**.

* * *

Riku woke to doodles on the misty windows. Palm trees and star-shaped fruit, images plucked from his dreams — which now went undisturbed, save for the glimpse of yellow eyes that told him the shadow was watching. There was a messy caricature with long spikes falling from its head, labeled **_Riku_**.

He huffed in amusement, reminded of the game he and Kairi would play, drawing each other on the cave walls back home. Neither of them went far in their artistic aspirations. But it was a pleasant memory in his mind as he drew his fingers in the lines of a head, a nose, spikes rising up and out as hair. _Sora_ he wrote beneath it.

The shadow’s eyes glinted in the window’s reflection. He examined the doodle with glee, then extended a pinky to draw a curve on the bottom of the drawing’s face: a smile.

He lingered through Riku’s classes, now watching the proceedings rather than hindering them. But soon interest gave way to boredom. Entertainment was found by rolling students’ untouched pencils off their desks, shoving the professor’s notebook onto the floor and sending papers into a flurry, shaking with silent laughter as the man tore away from his presentation to snatch them up. Rumors began to fly: a ghost? A made-up person with a made-up life was invented by the end of the week, a former professor that died in a freak accident with the overhead projector and haunted the room ever since.

Sora enjoyed being a devil, it seemed, and Riku was growing less sure that it had anything to do with his curse.

Sora liked doodling on the windows, and slamming on the glass when Riku passed by to make him jump. Live action movies bored him, but when Riku found an old Disney film — _Mulan_ — he vibrated with excitement and danced with the musical numbers. He couldn’t eat, but he insisted through capitalized messages on the mirror that Riku cook for himself instead of squandering money on takeout.

The stone in Riku’s pocket grew lighter. Still cool to the touch, no matter the temperature of the day.

Salt lines were swept away. Riku stopped tracing Xion’s wards on his walls. Only the silver chain on his wrist was to remain.

* * *

Sora’s name came up over lunch one day. It nearly made Riku drop his fork, his head jerking up from his plate.

Lea didn’t seem to notice, his eyes still on Roxas as he waited for his answer. _So how’s Sora doing?_

“No change.” Roxas’ voice was resigned, yet still disappointed. “Little twitches, but it hasn’t progressed at all.”

Both Xion and Lea reached for him, two hands mirroring a comforting touch on each shoulder. “Hey, it’s more improvement than we’ve seen since the start. Don’t give up now.” The redhead gave him a smile, but Roxas only shrugged.

“Sora?” Riku was hesitant to ask. Their eyes shifted to him.

It was Xion who answered, “An old friend of Roxas.” She hesitated, casting a look to the blonde before adding, “He’s… been in a coma for a long time now.”

“The one you mentioned before? You moved out here to stay close to him?” Riku’s heart was hammering.

Roxas gave a single, short nod. His expression was guarded. “Not to sound rude, but… why do you care?”

Riku took a moment to gather himself before launching into the story.

* * *

The hospital was located out at Sunset Terrace. A clean looking building, several stories high, clearly affording good equipment and good service.

Sora was kept in an area separate from the main facility, a long-term care unit. Roxas was clearly a familiar face here, as the nurses greeted him warmly, if with the somberness appropriate for such an occasion.

Sora’s body was alone in the room. An IV was stuck to his arm, a tube down his throat. His chest rose and fell in a perfectly even pattern.

Roxas drew up a chair beside the bed. He melted into the scene like the subject of a painting, and Riku got the impression that he was looking at a snapshot. Roxas, sitting there for hours, hunched over the bed as shadows flicked under the door from those passing by.

“We never understood why this happened.” Roxas’ voice was quiet. “He just… didn’t wake up one day. No sign of an injury, or drugs, or anything.” Tired eyes rose to meet Riku’s. “Guess now we know.”

The shadow that Riku knew was a perfect silhouette of this body. Now, he could fill in the colors. Brown skin, freckled. Hair that looked soft but wild, and naturally so, not just a case of bedhead. He wondered what color his eyes were.

They sat in silence over the bedside.

Roxas stood, murmuring an excuse, and took his leave. The moment he shut the door, Sora, the shadowed version, appeared.

His eyes were downcast.

On an impulse, Riku fished the stone out of his pocket. He pulled the blankets away from Sora’s unconscious form, finding a loose hand, and pressing it into the palm. Black hands came to clasp it when Riku pulled back, the shadow curling his own fingers closed.

He didn’t think a spirit could cry. Yet, Sora seemed to.

There were no tears. No sobs. But he trembled. Curled his arms around himself and quaked, head bent down, the yellow of his eyes going dark.

Riku reached for him without a thought. A portion of Sora’s arm dissolved before Riku could make contact; he only remembered the silver hooked around his arm as he retreated.

“Hey,” he said, voice soft and mournful. No more words came. Sora shook harder.

* * *

Riku purchased _The Three Musketeers_ at the grocery store for five-hundred munny, a version that featured Mickey Mouse and friends. It was straight-to-video, Donald’s lines were incomprehensible, and the entire plot was so juvenile he could hardly believe he was sitting and watching it. But Sora loved it, so he endured to the end.

It was more fun to watch Sora than to watch the movie. His eyes perpetually bunched in his own form of a smile, knees drawn up to his chest and utterly focused on the screen.

Perhaps not completely focused. He noticed Riku watching him halfway through, turning his head with a questioning tilt. Riku snapped his gaze away, heat crawling over his face.

The next morning, Sora’s doodles were a dozen bubbly hearts on the window.

* * *

The holidays rolled in. Xion recruited Riku to help set up the Christmas tree while Lea and Roxas strung blue lights around the front of the house. Their dog dashed about, getting under everyone’s feet and nearly toppling Riku as he stretched to hand her the topmost piece. Sora appeared when the tree was up, pointing to the ornaments he liked and where he wanted Riku to hang them. A plastic Grinch’s head, two sparkling white doves, and a bear curled around a red and gold sphere were hung from and clipped to the branches. They threw off the pattern Xion had started, but she smiled and told him to go ahead.

“Lea always wants to put up the fun ones, anyway,” she assured him, then went back to humming _Jingle Bell Rock._

When Roxas came in, Sora vanished. Lea followed him, singing loudly, draping a garland over his shoulders. He flounced up to Xion, brandishing a stalk of mistletoe. She ducked, laughing, and shoved Riku forward instead.

Lea’s eyes widened. Then he grinned, leaned forward, and planted a kiss right on Riku’s cheek. Pulled back to proudly gauge his expression.

“... You got spit on me,” was Riku’s response, making a show of wiping his face. Roxas barked out a laugh.

Lea shrugged. “Coulda kissed you properly, but I don’t think anyone here would take appreciate it. Now I’ve gotta catch my girlfriend.”

They ran a track through the house until Roxas and Riku teamed up to bar the way, trapping Xion and leaving her helpless. She shrieked of betrayal until Lea captured her to kiss her soundly on the lips.

Lea pulled back, beaming and triumphant, and tossed the mistletoe to Roxas. “Your turn,” he sang. Then turned to a box of decorations, continuing his song in a jovial tune, _“Dreidel dreidel dreidel, I made you out of clay….”_

Smiling to himself, Riku turned away. Sora lingered in the corner, an unseen spectator to the others, his eyes lowered serenely. When Riku caught his gaze, he couldn’t help the smile from growing.

* * *

A week into December, Riku woke to snow on the ground. A white blanket fell overnight, embracing the city and glistening in the dawn. Sora had his face pressed to the window, watching the snowflakes fall.

Kairi came to visit at the first mention of snow, bundled up twice as thickly as Riku was.

“You'll catch a cold,” she huffed as a greeting, breath fogging up in front of her. Like she was expecting him to be an incompetent dresser, she whipped a beanie out of her bag and pulled it over his eyes.

Riku fixed it, meticulously arranging his hair to sweep out over his forehead as Kairi darted off the pavement, to where the snow was gathered thickly. She scooped it up into her gloves, delighted.

One blink and Sora was there, crouching by her to watch Kairi work. He looked just as wondering, trailing his fingers through the snow. It left no mark, but Riku wondered if he could feel it.

Then snow was exploding in his face. He staggered, and Kairi roared with laughter. He'd taken the brunt of it in his chest, but the impact sent flecks into his hair and a good chunk sliding down his collar. Cursing, he scooped up a handful and flung it her way, giving chase when she fled.

Sora flitted along beside him, eyes vibrant with their glow. When Riku nailed Kairi in the back with a snowball, he quivered with laughter. Pure darkness against the stark blanket of snow, yet he seemed to radiate joy and made the world brighter around him.

It was unbearably sad.

* * *

Twilight Town hadn’t seen snow in three years, according to Xion, a sigh in her voice. They had to drive two hours north to get a glimpse, or take the train. Riku chose not to comment that after a week or two, his “Winter Wonderland” started to become synonymous with terms like hell and despair.

Though the temperatures were above freezing out there, it didn’t stop Riku from bundling up. Admittedly it was nice to be able to just put on a heavy jacket instead of a coat that made scratching noises every time he moved — the sound of the outdoors had become a resounding _scrrrr-scrrrr_ as everyone but those determined to either look gorgeous or prove their masculinity in below-zero temperatures shuffled around in their snow gear.

Again, the lack of frost was a relief, as Riku was sure he’d be deafened by the sound of a few hundred coats when at least half the town was crowded around to watch grown men beat each other up with rubber bats.

“There he is.” Lea’s voice was warm with amusement as he quirked a brow and pointed. Riku had to muffle a snort.

Being an adult, Roxas was at least allowed to get away without the ridiculous foam helmets that minors had to wear. It didn’t spare him from having a hundred blue balls velcroed to his body.

The announcer was yelling something Riku didn’t really bother to listen to. Another boy stepped up, someone he didn’t recognize, donning red to Roxas’ blue. They both wielded bats. A whistle blew, and Roxas sprang.

It was painful to watch, because Roxas was merciless. The round ended before the timer ran out after he had knocked every sphere off the man’s body without losing a single one of his own.

Xion gave a wistful sigh amidst the cheers. “I used to love Struggle tournaments.”

“So why didn’t you sign up?” Riku raised a brow. She didn’t seem the type to drop out because her boyfriend was competing.

Then Xion went quiet and looked away, and Lea answered, “She was banned for life. Misconduct and whatnot.”

The rounds flitted by, never too long with a time limit enforced. A wind struck up that had Riku shoving his hands into his armpits and wishing he’d worn gloves, until Lea gave him a handful of munny to buy them hot chocolate.

By the time he returned with three cups balanced precariously in his hands, it was just early enough to watch Roxas knock Hayner on his ass. Satisfying was the look of resignation on the boy’s face as the timer ran out and Roxas was — again — declared the match’s winner.

By some unspoken command, the crowds began to disperse. Riku’s brow furrowed. Seeing his confusion, Xion explained, “The other half continues tomorrow. Come on, let’s congratulate Roxas!”

“Like he doesn’t always win,” Lea mumbled, but he still strolled after her, leaving Riku with little choice but to follow.

Hayner was back on his feet, looking irate but not wearing the sneer Riku was familiar with — he was just special, then.

Then he turned his head, got a look at Riku, and, ah, there it was. For a moment there he was starting to wonder if Hayner had a twin brother born without a stick up his ass.

He cast one look at Roxas, expression hardening, and whipped back to Riku with his lips poised to say something undoubtedly insulting. Then Roxas grabbed his shoulder, looking flustered, and said, “Hayner, it’s okay!”

The ease of their touch, the way Hayner examined Roxas’ expression before giving a reluctant nod, made it click. “You guys are friends — that’s why you were such an ass,” he blurted. Whatever rage had eased from the man’s expression was back with a vengeance.

Lea snorted on a laugh.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kick his ass,” Hayner growled out.

_‘Because I could knock you on your ass,’_ Riku wanted to snap back. Instead he looked to Roxas.

“I am not explaining this right now,” Roxas sighed. “I’ll give you the whole story later, Hayner. But, uh. Riku’s… not as bad as I thought. Can we keep things civil?”

Hayner scowled at Riku, but jerked his shoulders in what was probably an agreeing shrug. “Doesn’t mean I like him,” he grumbled.

Xion leaned up to whisper, “Don’t worry, Hayner’s just protective. He hated all of us at one point. _Especially_ Lea. He’ll warm up with time.”

Riku found himself doubting that, when he felt the boy’s glare on his neck for the rest of the day. But maybe Hayner would surprise him.

* * *

“You know,” Riku started.

Sora tore his eyes from the television. _Beauty and the Beast_ was playing, somewhere in the middle of Gaston’s song.

“I wouldn’t have expected this.”

Sora’s eyes were curious, so he continued. “You were supposed to be a curse. But. I think it was a good thing Hayner gave me your stone.” A quiet laugh. “It’s funny, isn’t it? Even if I could go back in time, change this, stop it from happening, I don’t think I would.”

The expression the shadow wore was nothing Riku had seen on him before. Sora scooted closer, as close as he could be without touching.

* * *

He woke up in a hospital bed.

Riku pushed himself up, eyes flicking over the room. White walls. A smell that made his nose itch, sharp, stinging.

_Where?_

Looked down at himself. Sheets, rough to the touch. Not his? This wasn’t his house — no, he lived in an apartment. Right? He didn’t recognize the bed, so it wasn’t his. Didn’t recognize the clothes, either, a loose-fitting gown, white with pale-colored dots.  
He was in —

— a hospital?

_Why?_

Tried to remember, but his mind was blank. Hospital. He was in a hospital. There was an IV stuck in his arm.

His eyes shifted from his arm to the bed — just large enough for one body, plastic rails — to the wires dangling over it. A monitor tracked his heart rate and blood pressure. There was a little wire dangling over the rail of the bed, a plastic button attached. _Call Nurse._ He pressed it.

In the time it took for the nurse to arrive, Riku scoured his memory, any reason why he was here. His brain came up blank, offered nothing. Nothing, except a sense of something missing. Something wrong.

Riku brushed a hand absently down his arm. His fingers froze when they reached his wrist undisturbed. The bracelet was gone.

Riku exhaled, slow. The monitor tracking his heartbeat spiked.

“Sora?”

His voice fell upon an empty room.

There was a sound to his left. Riku twisted in his bed, a brief hope flaring in his chest. It died when he saw the door opening, a nurse stepping through. The man greeted him, introduced himself with a name Riku instantly forgot. Most of his words were jumbled, just incomprehensible noise.

The sounds stopped. Riku watched the nurse frown, and approach. _“Mr. Miyano? Are you able to understand me?”_

His eyes wavered. The noise rolled through his mind, words clicking into place one by one. Riku jerked his head in a nod. Rasped, “Yeah.”

The nurse spoke slower from then on. He heard “concussion” and “unconscious” flit by, but failed to respond. Nodded when prompted, answered questions slowly, and only felt a flicker of relief when the man took his leave.

Riku laid back down, turned on his side, and watched the shadows at the edges of the room.

* * *

The next time he woke it was to a small crowd of people all leaning over his bed. Riku shed all traces of drowsiness, eyes snapping open wide, and the four heads crowded around recoiled.

“ _What_ the hell.” He pushed himself up, then winced when his head swam.

Eyes — three pairs of blue, one of green — gawked at him. A moment later Kairi threw herself onto the bed wrapping her arms around him. Sudden as it was, Riku fumbled for a moment before remembering how to move his arms, and curled them around her. “Kai?” He asked, low and worried.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” she mumbled into his neck. Pulled back, eyes watery despite her smile. “Promise, Riku.”

His brow furrowed, Riku stammering on an, “I… I promise?”

To his relief, Lea stepped forward, laying a hand on Kairi’s shoulder to ease her back. “Alright, let him breathe.” His voice was light, but there was a shadow in his eyes when they met Riku’s. “You feeling alright?”

“Yeah.” The response was automatic before he thought to actually consider his answer. Revised, “A little disoriented. A nurse said… I got a concussion?”

The four looked between themselves, seeming to have some kind of silent exchange. Kairi raised her eyebrows at Lea, who shook his head and looked to Xion. A shrug, a glance at Roxas; Roxas was staring at the floor. Xion pursed her lips, touched his arm, and looked to Riku.

“You did,” she confirmed, “and you were unconscious for a few days. Comatose.” She paused, swallowing hard, and stayed silent.

Riku’s gaze shifted to Roxas. He looked pale, shadows under his eyes. When Roxas looked up, he gave a feeble smile that the blonde boy attempted to return. A small upturn at the corners of his mouth and nothing more.

_Comatose_ , he repeated in his brain. “How long?”

_Like Sora?_

The memory made his heart stutter. Riku nearly missed the response — three days — as his fingers went to his wrist. It felt exposed without the chain wrapped around it.

Xion followed the movement. Gave a sharp, “Oh!” that drew the attention of the others. With all eyes on her, she shook her head, passing it off as remembering something to do later. But the look she gave Riku was both bewildered and sad.

* * *

One day of monitoring. Tests for cognition, coordination, memory, anything that would suggest Riku had lasting injury. The next day Kairi took him from the hospital.

The details were nothing exciting. It was a cold day, and the rain from the night before froze over the sidewalks. Riku slipped at the top of a staircase, was unconscious at the bottom, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The assumption was that hitting his head was what knocked him out, but the actual damage was relatively light, the fact that it left him comatose was truly a phenomenon.

He traced his wrist as he thought about it.

School pulled Kairi away, she and the others bidding Riku a warm farewell and a threat of something truly awful if he failed to inform them of any complications.

Xion pulled him aside before they left. “Your chain is gone,” she observed. “You should be dead.”

It was startlingly blunt. But Xion’s eyes were

* * *

unwavering, regarding him in a calculating manner. It felt like she was seeing through him, his skin and bones becoming transparent beneath to expose the sensitive viscera crowded beneath. “But I’m not.” Obviously.

“But you’re not,” she repeated, as though he said something noteworthy. She hummed, contemplating, lips moving as though speaking to herself. Louder, she added, ” Naminé and I were both certain that the curse on Sora would control him, even if you did contact his heart.” Her smile became rueful. “I never knew him, but Roxas always said he could do the impossible for the people he loves.”

There was a pain, deep and sharp, between his ribs. “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Riku replied. His voice was steady.

A beat.

“Do you know what happened to him?”

Xion shook her head. “If he’s not around, then… no. I don’t, Riku, I’m sorry.”

And the quaver in her voice told him she really, truly was.

* * *

Christmas was in three days. Chanukah began the day before that. Presents were wrapped, ready to be given: a necklace for Kairi, a new set of paints hesitantly bought for Naminé, a box of chocolates that was far too expensive for Lea, Roxas, and Xion.

There was an ornament, as well, a red sphere upon which Mickey, Donald, and Goofy perched, each donning a santa hat. He bought it on a whim when he saw it in a store and thought of Sora, and how Sora’s eyes shone whenever they sat down to watch _Tarzan_ or _Fantasia_ or _Cinderella_.

It was already wrapped in a neat little box, snowflake wrapping paper and a pale blue bow. Riku stowed it in a drawer and never took it back out.

* * *

When he woke in the morning, the first thing he did was turn to the window, expecting something to be scrawled in the mist. When nothing but foggy glass greeted him, Riku pulled the blankets back up and shut his eyes.

* * *

All in all, he was lucky to have passed out on the day winter break began. No finals to catch up on, no work to be done. All the time in the world to stare at the ceiling and wonder just when he began to regard his curse as something entirely different.

Riku took the milk out of the fridge, nearly poured himself a glass before he registered the smell and emptied it into the sink.

* * *

On the 23rd of December, Naminé called to invite him to dinner the next night. She didn’t even let him consider saying ‘no’ before she added, “Kairi said she’ll drive out and drag you here herself if you don’t come. She has extra ribbon from the presents to use instead of rope.”

It was probably not meant to be a threat, but he immediately told her he’ll be there.

* * *

Naminé’s mansion looked less eerie with bulbous, rainbow lights strung around it. Even the effect of the creaky gate was dampened, when right beyond it the broken pillars had red and white fairy-lights twined in the pattern of a candy cane.

He was the last to arrive, Lea and Kairi having commandeered the kitchen while the others chattered and plucked at the treats laid out on the table. Riku realized with a sinking feeling that he likely should have brought something to contribute.

“Riku!” Xion greeted with a bright smile. “Merry Christmas Eve!” She came up and hugged him, like it had been months since they’d last seen each other rather than only a few days prior. He repeated the greeting back to her, and to Roxas and Naminé who were seated on the couch.

“Riku’s here?” Kairi poked her head out from the kitchen. Her hands were covered with oven mitts, the smell of a roast trailing out with her.

“Tell him to get his ass in here and help!” Was Lea’s way of saying hello. Riku wished him a happy Chanukah in return, lips quirking as Kairi tugged him in and instructed him to stir a skillet full of gravy.

There was, altogether, too much food. A ham, turkey, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole and rolls, pies in the fridge for dessert and latkes promised along with that. Most was already finished, but somehow the redheads kept Riku busy, a new task at every turn. Take this out of the oven, find the bottle opener, get the plates down.

The distraction was welcome, though he found his gaze magnetically drawn towards his own shadow in the brief moments before he was given another task.

Xion and Roxas stood to help him set the table, the latter interrupted by his phone. They both waved off his apology, though only after Riku gave him a jab for shirking responsibilities. It earned him a stuck out tongue and little else as the blonde directed his attention to the caller.

“Everything feels lighter during the holidays, don't you think?” Xion smiled as she set flutes by every plate, followed by Riku, armed with fancy napkins. They were a pristine white, and he thought he would sooner wipe his fingers on his nice pants than tarnish the color.

“I guess,” he acquiesced, truly noncommittal.

“I mean,” Xion paused to gather her words. “There's something in the air. Whenever I look out at the lights at night, when it's cold and I can see my breath, it feels detached from the rest of the year. In a good way, though. People are kinder during the holidays, you know.”

Riku’s mouth twisted. “I saw a woman yelling at a barista for saying ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas.’ And don't people get into fights while gift shopping?”

It made Xion laugh, even as she scolded him with, “Don't be so negative. Where's that holiday spirit?”

“Right here!” Kairi swooped in to set a headband of reindeer antlers on his head. It was crooked. “Can't you feel the joy and kindness seeping into your skull?”

“That sounds like something dystopian.” Riku’s voice was dry as he righted the antlers. Oh — they had little bells on them.

The sound almost masked the hitch in Roxas’ breath. Still, they heard, and heads turned to the boy clutching his phone. His eyes were wide, face ashen.

“Okay,” he breathed, quavering. “I’ll be right there I — fuck —”

He staggered. Lea jumped to catch him, one arm looping around his waist while he caught Roxas’ phone. Xion swept forward to take that, lifting the phone to her ear to speak warily to the caller.

Riku strode to help Lea, the two of them supporting him to the couch. The boy’s eyes were distance, mouth parted halfway around a word he never spoke.

And Xion was saying, “Oh my god,” all quick and hushed, “oh my _god_.”

Naminé appeared at her side, pressing to know what was wrong.

They were piling into cars only moments after she told them.

* * *

The hospital was thankfully empty, save for a few bad cases of the winter flu that required urgent care. The receptionist had them sit, sympathetic but firm in the face of Roxas’ agitation. It was a feat Riku could respect, knowing firsthand what it was like to be on the receiving end of his fury.

It was Xion who calmed him down, as firm as the receptionist as she took him by the shoulders and pulled him away from the desk.

Riku sat, absorbed in his thoughts, eyes fixed upon the wall as though he could paint them all upon it and somehow find serenity in the plaster. He heard Kairi’s voice but paid her no mind until her hand laid atop his, soothing the tension raised in his knuckles.

The clock ticked, uncaring of their woes and unhurried by their pleas. Its longest arm made a full rotation and then some under Riku’s sharp gaze, and that was when a nurse came in to call their names.

“I’m afraid we’ll only be allowing one in at a time,” she told them, her voice soft and apologetic.

The choice was unanimous. Roxas drew in a deep, shaking breath, and vanished through the door.

Riku tried to push down the prickle of resentment as he settled back into his seat. Quiet murmurs between Lea and Xion, the scratching of Naminé’s pencil on a page, Kairi’s knuckles drumming on the arm rest — each sound left him flexing and curling his fingers, trying to focus on the stretch of his skin instead of the insistent little noises that rattled in his ears.

Roxas returned nearly an hour later, looking weary but beaming. Lea and Xion rose to catch him in a hug, all three broken out in smiles.

There was a sharp something in Riku’s chest that dug deeper as he watched them. How disgusting, he sneered at himself, to be jealous of their happiness.

Then Roxas parted from them, sighing and wiping at his eyes. “Riku,” he said, his voice quiet, “you should go see him.”

“Did he ask for me?” Surprise overtook envy.

There was a pause, then Roxas shook his head. “I didn’t mention you,” he admitted. “But, you’re the only other one here who _knows_ him.”

Before he could leave, Xion caught him, as she seemed to be making a habit of doing. Her voice was quiet. “I don’t want to scare you, Riku,” she started, which immediately left apprehension curling down his spine, “but I’m not sure how he’s going to react. That was his soul that haunted you. I’ve never seen anything like this before so… I’m not sure if it’s going to link back to his memories or not.”

Her words echoed down the corridors as the nurse lead him to the room.

It was exactly the same as when he’d first seen it. Blank walls, a single chair pulled up beside the bed, no television or magazines for a patient that wouldn’t be able to use them.

Only this time, Sora was sitting up in the bed, leaned back against some pillows. His eyes were still shut, asleep.

Riku froze, staring at him. Then took a step back.

Sora’s eyes opened.

_Blue_ , he realized, blinking. The evening sky circled his pupils, eyes wide and glassy as they took Riku in.

He swallowed. “Sora?” He tried, and got a slow blink in reply.

There was nothing. Not even a flicker of recognition, a hint of a smile.

His heart sank in his chest. “Sorry,” Riku muttered, hand reaching for the doorknob to let himself out, brain pounding out the command to run, retreat.

Sora’s lips parted with an audible sound.

_“I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream.”_

It was said more than sang. His voice was cracked from disuse, and faltered on the last few words. But he was smiling, a broad grin that made his eyes turn upwards and made Riku’s heart stutter.

He made a note, that _Sleeping Beauty_ would be the next film they watched.

**Author's Note:**

> What was intended to be a story for Halloween became this monstrosity, and by the time I was wrapping it up the holidays were here and I was feeling sentimental.


End file.
